Berlusconi re-emerges with vow to axe house tax

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has returned to the political frontline after months in the shadows, vowing to abolish a key tax on homes in remarks likely to stoke investors’ jitters about Italy’s future after an election next spring.

But the 75-year-old media magnate is keeping Italy guessing about whether he will stand for prime minister at the head of his centre- right People of Freedom (PDL) party in the election.

Berlusconi, one of the country’s richest men, attacked the policies of his successor, unelected technocrat Mario Monti, in his first interview to Italian media since being forced from power last November, when Italy tottered on the edge of a Greek-style debt crisis.